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Join the car's Wi-Fi

The car broadcasts its own Wi-Fi access point. You join it with a phone or a laptop and open the dashboard. No internet is needed to drive.

The access point

  • The network name is goat-<name>, where <name> is the robot name.
  • The Wi-Fi password is per car. It is printed on the car.
  • The band is 2.4 GHz.

Never share a car's password in a public place. Change it on the dashboard if you think someone else has it.

TODO (Rob): confirm where the per-car credential label sits on the car, and what a customer sees on the first boot before the name is set.

Join and open the dashboard

  1. On your phone or laptop, join the car's network.
  2. Open http://192.168.50.1 in a browser. This is the dashboard.
  3. You have no internet while joined. That is fine for driving.

Keep internet while you work

You can put the car on your own network instead. Open the dashboard, open settings, and use Wi-Fi Network. Then find the car at goat-<name>.local.

If nobody reaches the dashboard over Wi-Fi within 15 minutes of boot, the car falls back to its own access point. You can always get to it.

Only join a network you control

Everyone on the same network can reach the dashboard, drive the car, and change its settings. Use a home, office, or private hotspot network. Never a venue's shared Wi-Fi or a hotel network.

Two cars in one room

  • Give each car its own robot name. The name sets the Wi-Fi network and the address you visit.
  • Give each car its own ROS_DOMAIN_ID under Advanced in settings. It keeps the cars from hearing each other.